After Facing Months Of Homophobic Abuse, Gay Kansas High School Teacher Quits Job

By

Carlos Santoscoy

|
April 19, 2018

An openly gay high school teacher in
Kansas has been forced out of his job.

According to the Topeka
Capital-Journal, Michael Hill, a visual arts teacher who came
out to his school on October 11, 2017, National Coming Out Day,
decided to quit his job and move out of state after facing months of
homophobic abuse.

“Queers will burn and so will you,”
states one threatening letter Hill received. “Don't think my
friends and I ain't still after you. We don't want fags in our
school.”

In other notes, Hill is called a “fag”
and told he should “watch his back.”

“Homosexuals should not be teaching
our kids, in fact I don't believe they should be teaching our kids at
all they are perverts and predators,” reads another letter Hill
received. “The religious views of my family do not support this
lifestyle … You should not be allowed to push some gay agenda on
our kids.”

The Capital-Journal reported
that Hill's car tire was punctured with a screwdriver and he found
“faggot” written in the dust on his car. He reported the
incidents to police, who said they were unable to track down the
culprit.

Hill said that he became afraid to
leave his apartment at night and took seven weeks of unpaid leave.

“It was very frustrating,” Hill
told the paper, “that my option was to pack up and move.”

Tom Witt, executive director of
Equality Kansas, lamented that Hill was forced to leave his job and
the state.

“[It's] absolutely horrifying that
professionals in Kansas are still being harassed and threatened, and
run out of their jobs and run out of town, because of their sexual
orientation.”